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[Blue Raptor]

Hello! I am a new member and never have had chickens before. But I want to buy 6 baby chicks. I have a question about chicken coop construction. I want to add an 8ft by 8ft coop in my shed. Currently the floor is crushed gravel. I want to do the deep litter method on the ground. Do i need to remove the rock or can i leave the crushed rock and put straw or leaves or wood chips on top of the gravel? I was concerned that dusty crushed rock might not be good for chickens to breath. Thanks so much!

Welcome to BYC!!

 

[Fuchsia]

Welcome to BYC.

 

[TAMFAM]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I would remove all the gravel and get down to bare earth. The chickens will just mix everything up together and you won't be able to harvest the deep litter when it composts.

Would you put hardware cloth on top of dirt floor to keep snakes and rodents out? Thanks so much!

 

[DobieLover]

Would you put hardware cloth on top of dirt floor to keep snakes and rodents out? Thanks so much!

No. I would install a predator apron around the entire setup extending it out across the ground 18-24".

 

[perkolator]

For snakes and general rodents I would first go around the shed structure and make sure there are no holes bigger than your pinky finger, from ground to roof. If you have them, fill them somehow. An 18" skirt of HC added to the exterior of the structure might be a good idea to keep anything from being able to dig against the walls and get inside.

If you have issues with tunneling rodents like moles/voles/gophers, then I could see justification for putting HC on the ground - I did this in my coop because I have a lot of mole activity in my yard and it was a problem in the old setup. However, you'll want the HC buried at least 6-8" deep in addition to the depth of your bedding for deep litter, so the chickens don't dig down and hit the HC. Going that deep inside this structure might not be that practical, so I'd probably skip it in favor of the exterior skirt and just remove the layer of gravel

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!!